The right of reply in Mexico (derecho de réplica)

Who may reply

Article 3 lets any person exercise the right over inaccurate or false information ¹. If the person lacks capacity or has died, a spouse, partner or close relative may act. Companies act through a legal representative ¹. The right of reply means publishing the clarifications that are relevant, and publication must be free ¹. If the original was a paid insertion, the outlet may recover the cost from whoever ordered it ¹.

Deadlines step by step

Non-daily programmes and publications run the reply in the next broadcast or edition ¹.

Length and placement

The reply is limited to the information that prompted it and may not exceed the time or space of the original, except where the parties or a court agree otherwise. It may not contain judgments or opinions ¹. In print it runs in full, on the same page, with similar features and prominence. On air it runs in the same programme and time slot ¹.

When an outlet may refuse

The outlet must give reasons for any refusal and notify the requester ¹. Federal district judges hear disputes, in the district where the requester lives ¹.

• The request was not filed on time ¹
• It is not limited to clarifying inaccurate information that caused harm ¹
• The information was already clarified with equal prominence ¹
• It concerns official statements by a public servant reported by an agency or outlet ¹
• The information came from a cited news agency ¹

The 2018 Supreme Court ruling

The National Human Rights Commission and two political parties challenged the law. The Supreme Court ruled on 1 February 2018 in Acción de Inconstitucionalidad 122/2015 and its accumulated cases ³. It invalidated a rule that only the affected party could reply in electoral matters, a faster timeline limited to campaigns, a five-business-day request window, refusal grounds IV and V of Article 19, and a clause on proof of harm ³.

The court found the five-day window, counted from the day after publication, disproportionate. That invalidity was set to take effect 90 calendar days after the ruling was published in the DOF, so Congress could fix it ³. The ruling was published in the DOF on 24 April 2018 and Congress reformed Article 10 on 30 May 2018 ². Further reforms followed on 1 April 2024 and 14 November 2025 ².

Fines

A district judge imposes the fines and the Ministry of Finance collects them ¹. Mexico's law sits under Article 14 of the American Convention, which the Inter-American Court in 1986 called an internationally enforceable right ^4,5.